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Compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is important to merchants that want to avoid data breaches and keep customer information safe, according to merchant panelists speaking at the Electronic Transactions Association's Strategic Leadership and Networking Forum in Chicago this week. Compliance is "a top priority," said Barry Hanen, accounting manager for credit and gift cards at OfficeMax Inc. "Every major merchant does not want to be a TJX," he said. Discount retailer TJX Cos. Inc. reported a data breach in January 2007 that compromised at least 89 million payment card accounts (CardLine, 10/24/07). Breached merchants stand to lose customers, noted Hanen. Keeping customer payment information safe is "extremely important," agreed James Schockett, senior manager of global cash management for Yum! Brands Inc., which owns restaurant brands KFC, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Most employee-training material for Yum! "has been revised to ensure that data safety is a high priority," said Schockett.
